1) Analysts are making guesses. While they generally become more accurate as they approach the reporting date, they do guess incorrectly. This can lead to large effects on the stock price when the true numbers are revealed.

2) Companies have different end dates. Do not assume all end dates are at the same time.

3) Reporting dates are later than the actual end date. Hence, estimates for the end date continue to be issued until the company reports earnings.

4) There are multiple sources for earnings estimates, and different providers will give slightly different "consensus" numbers.

5) We show weekly history. Gaps in the data are because we did not receive data for a given week and should not be interpreted as anything else.Learn More